One of the most common and more frustrating home repairs that needs to be made is the replacing of a rotted floor underneath a toilet caused by leakage over time. With the existing toilets and pipes, it is a foregone conclusion that, over time, some leakage will occur when a toilet flushes. The amount of water that does not go directly into the pipe should be forced down into the pipe over time and not be allowed to make contact with the floor or sub-floor where it can rot the floor and cause substantial damage.
Traditionally, a toilet flange is placed in the sub-floor that receives the toilet bowl itself and the plumbing pipe and connects the two. These traditional flanges have four large areas for the placement of screws connecting the toilet to the toilet flange and four additional screws for mounting the flange to the sub-floor. The holes that are used for the screws that connect the toilet to the flange allow for much exposed sub-floor upon proper installation of the toilet. The solution for filling these holes so that no water reaches the sub-floor was the creation of a wax seal. The wax seal consists of a plastic insert that connects the toilet with the toilet flange enclosed in a wax seal. Under the pressure of the toilet upon placing the wax seal in between the toilet and the flange, the wax seal is pressed downward and fills in any holes on the toilet flange and surrounds the base of the toilet. The wax seal provides three benefits, first it protects leakage from reaching the sub-floor by filling the holes, and second it does not allow any gas to escape, and, through it directs water flow to the main drain pipe.
While this system works initially, over time it begins to fail and allows water to reach the sub-floor. As the years and seasons progress, the alternating hot and cold weather expands and contracts the wax seal, thus leaving gaps in the holes the seal had once filled on the toilet flange. By leaving these areas exposed, the water from any leakage may now seep into these holes and begin to damage the sub-floor.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a floor flange that protects the sub-floor and floor from water seepage.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a seal assembly for use in combination with the flange that will further protect from any water seepage and use the seal primarily as a blocker of gas and not a protector from water damage.